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Stale Solbakken told The FF Show he needed more time at Wolves

Stale Solbakken criticised the short-sighted decision making at Wolves on The Footballers' Football Show.

Last Updated: 01/03/13 11:34am

The former Norway international, who had steered FC Copenhagen to five league titles in Denmark, as well as a Champions League win over Manchester United, before arriving at Molineux, was dismissed by the Championship side in January, just six months after taking charge.

Wolves have since slumped into the relegation zone and not won any of their eight games since Solbakken's departure - but the former midfielder is convinced Wanderers would not be fighting for Championship survival were he at the helm.

"It's not interesting to say whether they'd be there if I was still there - but I don't think they would have been," he said. "I won't say a bad word about Dean Saunders or the players there, though.

"They have a great tradition, a great fanbase and quite a healthy financial situation at Wolves, but they don't know which direction they want to go - and that's the case for many clubs in the country."

Solbakken revealed he'd been given a remit to alter the club's style of play and to add some foreign attitudes to the 'English fighting spirit' at the club.

However, when the side experienced a poor run of form over Christmas whilst trying to play to his new philosophy, he lost his job.

Solbakken says the decision by the Wolves board came too soon - and that the belief that a mid-season managerial change can improve the side is short-sighted.

Philosophy

"[When the owners appointed Stolbakken] they wanted a style that could suit Premier League football in the future," added the 45-year-old.

"The players had played one kind of football for a long period and they wanted change because they couldn't adapt to Premier League football.

"Some of the performances were not good enough but we got some injuries, especially to foreign players we'd signed.

"But I chose to continue the change in playing philosophy with guys who had played a different philosophy before - and I still think that was the right thing to do.

"We started winning again but we lost two or three games over Christmas and I think if we'd won those instead I would still have been in a job.

"Should three or four games choose the way Wolves want to play football or how they want to be in the future? It's not just Wolves, football in general.

"You have to be steady, fulfil [your plans] and then you can say afterwards 'we tried this and it worked well or we can't do it'.

"The guys in charge should be more steady and try to go all the way because we would have beebn successful, I'm sure - but nobody knows now what would have happened and that's the worst thing."